Not applicable
Not Applicable
It has been reported that the commercial loss due to horse, cattle, and other livestock pests is in excess of $700 million dollars per year in the United States.
This invention pertains to a trap to catch blood-feeding types of flies, particularly horse flies (insect family Tabanidae), one of the major livestock pests. Specifically, this invention is a chemical-free means of controlling blood-feeding fly populations around horses, cattle, and other large animals. The various fly trapping devices that have heretofore been proposed to catch flies with chemical baits do not attract the blood-feeding flies that are detrimental to these large animals. Those traps proposed for the blood-feeding type of fly are of a large and costly size such that the animals move through the trap structure or of such construction so as not to be easily relocated or suitable for efficient commercial production.
The present invention provides an entirely new approach to the construction of a portable blood-feeding fly trap suitable for manufacture, shipping, and storage.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,419,076 and 5,374,748 (Moreland et.al.) Is typical of the traps proposed that trap the blood-feeding flies that cause this loss. This type of trap requires the host animal to move through the trap where the flies abandon the animal and are caught in the trap. This entails a large structure that the animal is able and willing to move through.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,104 (Epps) is complex to assemble, can not be relocated without disassembly, and does not take advantage of the fly""s attraction to a moving object.
Some traps have been developed to take advantage of the blood-feeding flies attraction to dark moving objects and cover the object with a sticky material from which the flies have to be removed and the sticky material reapplied. Still other traps depend upon the behavior of flies to fly upwards when they find that the object is not a potential meal. These traps have been made of wood and other materials fastened together in a permanent manner so as to be unsuitable for efficient manufacturing and bulky to ship or store.
Many fly traps, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,781 (Carter), U.S. Pat. No. 5363589 (Flynn), U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,049 (Baley), and others, involve using a chemical bait, which does not attract the blood-feeding type of flies.
One response to this problem has been chemical insecticide control. The wetland habitat that support the larvae of blood-feeding flies makes the use of insecticides expensive, impractical, and ultimately environmentally undesirable.
A blood-feeding-fly trap constructed in such a way and made of materials that allows the trap to be disassembled for storage, economical shipping, efficient manufacture, and easy to relocate when assembled. The trap is placed in proximity to the livestock and does not require contact with the animals. The trap consists of a multiple of legs, held together by a central element and covered with flexible material. A deflatible or collapsible fly lure is suspended from the top element in such a way that it is allowed to swing in a breeze. A container is placed on top the central element to retain the trapped flies. All major parts are held together with removable fasteners for assembly and disassembly.
The advantages of this invention over past inventions is that it requires no organic baits or electricity, is easy to assemble, small to store, does not require livestock contact, and is easy to relocate when assembled.